SECRETARY OF WAR JEFFERSON DAVIS’
1854 REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT FROM THE LIBRARY OF T.D. JUDAH

In early April, 1854, future CPRR Chief Engineer Theodore
D. Judah suddenly left his native New York for California by way of
steamer
and Nicaragua. Then the 27-year old Chief Engineer of the Buffalo,
New York and Erie Railroad, just days before sailing Judah
had been hired upon the recommendation of New York Gov. Horatio Seymour
to oversee the location and construction of the first railroad on the Pacific
coast, the 22-mile Sacramento
Valley Railroad, as its Chief Engineer. The line was
to connect Sacramento and the crossing of the American River at Negro Bar
(now Folsom) to provide much needed passenger and freight transportation
for the gold mining district east of California’s newly named capital city.

The
railroad that Judah really wanted to build, however, was one to connect
the Pacific coast with the fast growing rail network east of the Mississippi
River. It would be another eight years,of course, before the single
minded Judah’s own visionary work in surveying the Sierras and promoting
a transcontinental line would finally help lead to the passage by Congress
of the Pacific
Railroad Act of 1862. In the meantime Judah kept close tabs on
the Government’s actions in far away Washington.

Excerpted below are several sections relating to these topics during
Judah’s first year in California from the Annual Report of the Secretary
of War for 1854 as they appear in Part II of the “Message from the President
of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress” (33rd Congress, 2nd
Session). Interestingly the volume from which these excerpts have
been scanned was Judah’s own copy marked with his tiny (1cm by 2cm)
bookplate along with his signature in pencil on the title page. (This volume
was a part of Judah’s library which was left to his widow, Anna Pierce
Judah, after his death in November, 1863. It was kept in the Pierce
family home in Greenfield, MA, until what remained of his library was broken
up about 1980.) -BCC

Composite image of the title page (signed by
T.D. Judah) and first page of the 1854 Report of the Secretary of War,
Judah’s signature, his bookplate, and a colorized portrait of Judah taken
from an original C.E. Watkins photograph.Courtesy Bruce C. Cooper Collection.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR.

WAR DEPARTMENT, December 4, 1854.

[Pages 3-7.]

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations
of the army for the past year; and to lay before you the reports of the
Commanding General, and of the heads of the several bureaus of the War
Department.

The authorized strength of the army (as now posted) is 14,216 officers
and men, but the accompanying tables, prepared in the Adjutant General's
office, show that at the date of the last returns, the actual strength
was only 10,745. This difference, however, between the authorized
and actual strength of the army is fast disappearing under the operation
of the law of the 4th of August last, "to increase the pay of the rank
and file of the army, and to encourage enlistments."

The general distribution of the army is nearly the same as shown in
my last report. The most important changes will be briefly noticed.
The 3d artillery has been reorganized since the wreck of the steamer San
Francisco, and six companies sent to the Pacific, via the Isthmus
of Panama. Two of the companies of that regiment and a detachment
of recruits for companies of dragoons serving in the department of the
Pacific, have been sent by the overland route, for the purpose of exercising
a salutary influence over the Indians inhabiting the country through which
they will pass, and holding to account the tribe implicated in the massacre
of Captain
Gunnison's party. They will winter in the Great Salt Lake
Valley, and proceed to their destination in the spring.

Six companies of the 2d infantry have been reorganized, and are now
posted in the Department of the West. The remaining companies of that regiment
will be sent to the same department as soon as their organization is completed.
The 6th infantry has been ordered to the Department of the Pacific. Six
companies of the regiment are concentrated at Jefferson barracks, preparatory
to sailing for the Pacific, by way of the Isthmus, and two others, which
were also under orders for Jefferson barracks, have been sent to Fort Laramie
in consequence of the difficulties that recently occurred in that vicinity.
The remaining companies now at Forts Kearney and Laramie will be sent to
their destination next spring, by the overland route, if a continuation
of the Indian difficulties in that quarter should not interfere with this
intention.

The headquarters and two companies of the 1st dragoons have been transferred
to the Department of New Mexico, and replaced in the Department of the
West by four companies of the 2d dragoons from New Mexico. The troops
on the Indian frontier of Florida have recently been reinforced by two
companies of artillery, drawn from the Atlantic coast. Some other
changes of minor importance have also been made with a view of effecting
a greater concentration of the troops.

The removal from Florida of the remnant of the Seminole tribe, who,
in violation of treaty, have continued to occupy the southern part of that
State, has received the constant attention of the department; but,
from peculiar circumstances, the efforts directed to this object have been
attended with but little success. It is, however, believed that better
results may be anticipated in the ensuing year. The troops have taken a
line of observation which greatly contracts the limits of the territory
occupied by the Indians; and it is proposed to make expeditions through
the region where they have hitherto remained securely concealed.

By opening roads, and by the use of boats adapted to the navigation
of the lakes, swamps, and bayous, which have heretofore enabled them to
elude pursuit, (including a small steamer, as recommended by the Quartermaster
General,) the department expects to acquire an accurate knowledge of the
country, and to impress them with the conviction of their inability to
escape from or resist the power of the United States. Measures have
been taken to cut off their trade, and to make them feel the great inconvenience
which will attend an attitude of defiance on their part towards this government.
By these means it is hoped the Indians may be peaceably removed to the
home provided for them west of the Mississippi, and the claim of Florida
to be relieved from their presence be speedily answered. Should this
hope not be fulfilled, the measures above referred to are the proper and
most efficient steps preliminary to active operations for their removal
by force.

In the other military departments the Indians have repeatedly come into
collision with our troops. Depredations upon our frontier inhabitants
and upon emigrants passing through the Indian country have been, and are
still, of frequent occurrence. In the Department of the West, besides
the depredations committed by smaller tribes, hostilities have occurred
with the Sioux Indians, the most powerful and warlike tribe of the Northwest.
In Texas they have been so frequent and of so threatening a character that
it was considered necessary to authorize the commander of that department
to call upon the governor of the State, from time to time, as exigencies
might arise, for such volunteer force as might be required to repel Indian
incursions.

In New Mexico serious hostilities were repressed by the prompt and energetic
action of the troops employed there, but depredations upon the inhabitants
are still of occasional occurrence; and in the Department of the
Pacific outrages of the most revolting character have recently been perpetrated
on parties of emigrants on their way to California and Oregon. To
repress such disorders, the troops have been actively and constantly employed;
and in the arduous and harassing duties that have devolved on them, have
exhibited a gallantry, zeal, and devotion that merit the favorable notice
of the government. The details of these operations will be found
in the reports transmitted herewith.

During the past year the Sioux Indians have committed many depredations
upon the property of the emigrants passing Fort Laramie, on their route
to Oregon and Utah. On the 19th of August Lieutenant Grattan, of
the 6th infantry, was sent, by the commander of that post with thirty men
to arrest an offender. This entire detachment was massacred by the Indians,
with the exception of one man, who escaped severely wounded, and subsequently
died. The circumstances of this affair were at first involved in
much obscurity, but authentic details have since proved that the massacre
was the result of a deliberately formed plan, prompted by a knowledge of
the weakness of the garrison at Fort Laramie, and by the temptation to
plunder the large quantity of public and private stores accumulated at
and near that post. The number of the Indians engaged in this affair
was between 1,500 and 2,000.

I regret that it has not been in the power of the department to concentrate
the troops in sufficient force to prevent and, in all cases, to punish
these disorders. The circumstances of the service have been such,
and the want of troops in all sections of the country so great, that the
concentration would have exposed portions of the frontier to Indian hostilities
without any protection whatever. Every favorable opportunity will
be taken to post the troops in commanding positions, from which they can
exercise a supervision of the Indian country, and operate to the best advantage.
The events of the past year have furnished many examples of the inefficiency
of small posts. Our entire loss in the several actions with the Indians
during the year has been four officers and sixty-three men killed, and
four officers and forty-two men wounded.

While the occurrences on our frontier and in the Indian territory present
gratifying evidences of the zeal and devotion of the troops, they also
furnish deplorable proofs of the insufficiency of our military force, and
the absolute necessity of the increase which it was my duty to urge in
my last annual report. I again solicit attention to this subject,
and in doing so must repeat, to some extent, what was then urged.

For military purposes, the territory of the United States is divided
into five geographical commands.

1. The Department of the East, embracing all the country east
of the Mississippi river. This department has 2,800 miles of sea-board,
1,800 miles of foreign, and about 200 miles of Indian frontier. Of
the fifty permanent fortifications and barracks on the lake, Atlantic,
and gulf coasts, now completed, or nearly so, and requiring garrisons to
protect the ports, cities, and national establishments which they cover,
only eleven are now garrisoned, leaving the remainder exposed to a sudden
or unexpected attack from any naval power. The total force in this
department at the date of the last returns was only 1,574 officers and
men; and of this number 500 are employed on the Indian frontier of Florida.

2. The Department of the West includes the country between the
Mississippi river and the Rocky mountains, except the departments of Texas
and New Mexico. It has a sea-board, foreign, and Indian frontier
of 2,400 miles; 2,000 miles of routes through the Indian country constantly
traversed by emigrants on their way to Utah, New Mexico, and our possessions
on the Pacific, and an Indian population of 180,000, a large proportion
of whom are, in feeling, hostile to us, and many of them at this time actively
so. The total force in the department at the date of the last returns
was 1,855 officers and men.

3. The Department of Texas, nearly the whole of that State, has
a seaboard frontier not yet protected by fortifications of 400 miles, a
foreign and Indian frontier of nearly 2,000 miles, and communications through
the Indian country of more than 1,200 miles. The Indian population
is estimated at 30,000, nearly all of whom are nomadic and predatory; and
the western and northern frontiers of the State are exposed to constant
inroads from the Indians of Mexico and the plains. The force in that
department at the date of the last returns was 2,886 officers and men.

4. The Department of New Mexico. — This department has an Indian
and foreign frontier of 1,500 miles, communications through the Indian
country of more than a thousand miles, and an Indian population of 50,000,
a great proportion of whom are bands who do not acknowledge the authority
of the United States. The force in this department, at the date of
the last returns, was 1,654 officers and men.

5. The Department of the Pacific, embracing the State of California
and the Territories of Oregon, Washington, and Utah, and a part of the
Territory of New Mexico. This department has a sea-board frontier
of 1,500 miles, entirely unprotected by fortifications, except the works
in progress at San Francisco, an Indian and foreign frontier of 1,600 miles,
and more than 2,000 miles of communications through the Indian country;
an Indian population of 134,000, who are becoming formidable from concentration,
from the acquisition of fire-arms and a knowledge of their use. The
force in this department is only 1,365 officers and men, but as heretofore
mentioned, they will be increased by an additional regiment ordered there.

To recapitulate. We have a sea-board and foreign frontier of more
than 10,000 miles, an Indian frontier, and routes through the Indian country,
requiring constant protection, of more than 8000 miles, and an Indian population
of more than 400,000, of whom, probably, one-half, or 40,000 warriors,
are inimical, and only await the opportunity to become active enemies.
If our army should be expanded to its greatest limit, it would have a force
of 14,731 officers and men; but as a large allowance must always be made
for absentees, invalids, &c., the effective force would probably never
exceed 11,000.

That this force is entirely inadequate to the purposes for which we
maintain any standing army needs no demonstration, and I take occasion
again to urge the necessity of such immediate increase as will at least
give some degree of security to our Indian frontier. That, for this
purpose, a regular force is not only the efficient and cheap, but the proper
and constitutional means, seems to me demonstrable, if not obvious.
The President is authorized to call out the militia to repel invasion and
suppress insurrection. These are the emergencies for which it was deemed
proper to confer upon the Executive the power to call citizens from their
homes and ordinary avocations, and these are the great occasions on which
they may be justly expected to make all the personal sacrifices which the
safety of the country may require. It is in this view that we habitually
and securely look to the militia as our reliance for national defence.

It was not the design of the constitution and laws to enable the President
to raise and maintain a standing army, yet this would be the practical
effect of a power, at his discretion, to call the militia into service,
and employ them for the ordinary duty of preserving order in the Indian
territory. The abuse to which such a power, if it were possessed
would be subject, sufficiently attests the wisdom of our forefathers in
not conferring it, and must remove far from us any desire to possess it.
If this view of the subject be correct, it follows that the Executive must
look to the army regularly authorized by law to preserve police among the
Indian tribes, and to give that protection to pioneer settlements which
interest, humanity, and duty alike demand the organization of the two new
territories, and the impulse given thereby to emigration towards the western
frontier, and the increase in the overland trains to our Pacific possessions,
have multiplied the opportunities as well as the causes of Indian depredations
and hostilities. It is reasonable to expect that the ensuing year will
be marked by more numerous and serious Indian outrages than the last or
any preceding year.

Our border settlements, extending from the Missouri westward, and from
the Pacific ocean eastward, are steadily pressing the savage tribes into
narrower limits and an unproductive region, from which result combinations
of bands heretofore separated from each other, producing at the same time,
by their concentration, an increase of power and a diminution of their
ability to live by the precarious products of the chase. Hence, a
two-fold necessity for an increase of our military force.

The question of economy in the employment of the means for this purpose
has been frequently and fully discussed. It may not, however, be without
benefit to advert to some instructive facts in our past experience of Indian
wars.

+++++++

[Page 8.]

The means of transportation have, in some instances, been improved,
and it is hoped further developments and improvements will still diminish
this large item of our army expenditure. In this connexion, waiving
other considerations, I again invite attention to the advantages to be
anticipated from the use of camels and dromedaries for military and other
purposes, and, for the reasons set forth in my last annual report, recommend
that an appropriation be made to introduce a small number of the several
varieties of this animal, to test their adaptation to our country.

+++++++++

[Pages 23-24.]

Since the date of my report of February 8, 1854, communicating to Congress
copies of all reports then received from the engineers and other persons
employed in explorations and surveys to ascertain the most practicable
and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific
ocean, the six parties engaged in those surveys have completed their field
duties; reports from four of them have been received and printed, under
a resolution of the House of Representatives, passed at the last session.
The two remaining reports, it is expected, will be ready for the printer
in the course of next month. No provision was made, by the resolution
above cited, for engraving the maps; without them the reports are comparatively
useless.

In making surveys of this character, the maps and reports being hastily
prepared in the field, and generally at night, after a day of fatiguing
duty, require careful revision in the office, and are considered as merely
preliminary to the more elaborate results which finally take their place.
Hence it has been found necessary to return some of the reports for revision,
and in some cases to replot the work and make new maps.

When all the reports and maps are received, they will be laid before
Congress, with a general report, and a map exhibiting all the routes, and
such profiles and other drawings as will be necessary to illustrate the
subject.

An appropriation having been made, at the last session, for continuing
these surveys, a party has been organized to make further explorations
between the plains of Los Angeles and the waters of the bay of San Francisco,
to determine whether there be a practicable route for a railroad through
the mountain passes of the Sierra Nevada and coast range, which extend
to the sea coast at Point Conception. A second party is making preparations
for testing the practicability of procuring water, by means of artesian
wells, upon the arid plains which occur on the several routes. The results
of the surveys already made will, when assembled and compared, probably
indicate the direction in which further explorations shall be made by parties
organized to take the field next spring, as early as the season will permit.